And this Treasure Box Wednesday is all about movies that grab the ol' attention and keep it. I was thinking about what to discuss for today, and in addition to curling up with those good books, another favorite winter pastime is spending a few hours with a great old film.

And there really are some gems out there, too. Ones, I was thinking perhaps, not all of you lovers of the vintage have gotten a chance to see.

Like how about All About Eve, the tale of a fading star, a rising starlet and treachery?

Or Sunset Boulevard, with another aging screen diva-- Nora Desmond-- tries to recapture her fame anyway she can?

Maybe To Kill A Mockingbird is more your style-- a beautiful adaptation of Harper Lee's book starring Gregory Peck...

Or perhaps you might enjoy The Philadelphia Story. You get Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, to boot!

Mr. Grant makes another appearance in Arsenic and Old Lace, a screwball comedy about murder, old aunties, Teddy Roosevelt impersonators and the criminal element.

And if you think you're seeing 6-foot-eight rabbits before your eyes in Harvey, well you won't be the only one. Just ask eccentric Elwood P. Dowd, likebly played by Jimmy Stewart.

Some other screen classic suggestions include:

Bogart in Dark Passage with Lauren Bacall (very film noir) or The African Queen with Katharine Hepburn

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, the original film on which the TV series was based.

Fred Estaire and Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face

And one of my favorite Hitchcock films, Rope-- based on a play and shot as if all experienced in one long scene.

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comments:

Great Movie selections! I love To Kill a Mockingbird and Funny Face. Hubby and I recently watched a Hitchcock film, To Catch a Thief, with Cary Grant and Grace Kelley. It was a wonderful movie! I also really like Chocolat and The Tinman. These are great modern movies!

Well, you certainly picked a great selection of films there! Every one of them fabulous. Makes me want to cocoon and pretend that television doesn't even exist and subsist completely on old, wonderful films.

Since you featured that handsome devil, Tyrone Power, in the last post, I actually dug up my VHS copy of "The Mark of Zorro". It also has Linda Darnell and Basil Rathbone, if I remember correctly. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but with the weather today, I might just pop it in when the kids go down for a nap.

I think that TMC was running a Fred Astaire film fest yesterday- I taped "Flying Down to Rio" to watch this weekend. Nothing like "froth" to raise the winter spirit! When American Movie Classics still ran old movies, I used to love watching the romantic comedies of the 30's and 40's. I got such a kick out of the ones that featured stunt casting of the "Ladies of the Moment" (Sonja Henie, the Olympic skater, or Lily Ponds, the Opera singer). "Sun Valley Serenade" is still a great watch. Henie's best trick was a single axel- quite a feat at that time!

How about the Princess Bride? There is swordplay, romance, death, double dealing and the ever lovable Andre the Giant. And Mandy Patinkin that lasts from beginning to end, ok that is sour grapes from his constant disappearing acts from my shows. ;)

I just watched Funny Face two nights ago...anything with Audrey is terrific! Here is my short list of faves.....Separate Tables 1958 Cyrano de Bergerac 1950The Search 1948 and my absolute favorite, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter 1968I have been recording up to 5 movies per day on TCM. It's "31 Days of Oscar", so you know that they are great choices. My choice for the best Tyrone Power movie is Alexander's Ragtime Band 1938. Talk about a smile!

How about more Bette Davis? Yes "All About Eve" was her triumph but she's also wonderful in "Dark Victory" & "Now, Voyager" and she's fabulously over the top in "The Little Foxes". Gotta see "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" too for it's unintentional comedy and two great, aging actresses. Bette lives on!

Down Comforter- And I bet you have the perfect blanket to watch 'em under! :)

Chyna- Ah, the Princess Bride is a great choice! That was the first film I actually saw Mandy Patinkin in. I was a kid and hadn't realized he wasn't really Spanish. :) Terrific quotes from that film, too.

Andrea- Wow, Tyrone really got around! I like how folks have worked him into the theme from last post.

Bec4- Where would we be without Holly Golightly and Mr. Varjack?

Tami- Ah! I have Roman Holiday and totally forgot to include that one. Another young Gregory Peck there, too. :)

You brought up quite a few of my favorites...I'll add "The Lady Vanishes" (vintage Hitchcock) and "Strangers on a Train," "Shadow of a Doubt," "Notorious," and "Rear Window" (slightly later Hitchcock) and "The Birds" and "North by Northwest" (late but fab Hitchcock.) Yes, I'm a Hitch fan.

A few other faves from my collection: Laura (Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews,) The Manchurian Candidate (Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh,) Seven Days in May (Kirk Douglas, Ava Gardner,) To Be or Not To Be (Jack Benny, Carole Lombard--very funny, very subversive,) Now, Voyager (Bette Davis at her best,) The Maltese Falcon, and of course Casablanca, which is so cliched but still so, so good.

Carrie- It really is; when I think about how, as a kid, I used to wait for certain films to come on television-- like the Wizard of Oz-- and now, we can just watch them whenever we want-- I feel very lucky.

Janelle- I love Hitch, too, and you have some marvelous choices in your list. You also made me recall "Gaslight" with Ingrid Bergman is also a very good suspense film.

JD- Some excellent choices there, too! Quite a few of those we had to watch in college for our film history classes.

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I've known the power of a good thrift store ever since I was a kid. It's that wonderful feeling of possibility... Of being able to find all the things you ever were looking for-- and a few you never even knew existed... And for not a lot of money. Fans of the thrift-- I'd love to hear from you!